December 8, 2025 / CBS News
Ten years ago, Barbara Cooper’s parents moved into the Harborside Retirement Community in Port Washington, New York, paying $946,000 for what they believed would be their final home and lifelong care.
“They had beautiful brunches every Sunday, intellectual activities that my mom loved. It was just a beautiful place,” Cooper said. The Harborside was a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) offering independent living, assisted living, nursing and memory care on one campus. Its financial model required a large entrance fee plus smaller, fixed monthly fees, with heirs typically receiving most of the entrance fee back when a resident died.
“We were supposed to get 80% back. That’s not happening anymore,” Cooper said. The Harborside filed for bankruptcy in 2023, one of at least 15 CCRCs to do so in the past six years, and many residents and their families have been left scrambling.
Some of the most vulnerable residents had to move out. At 94, Arlene Kohen was relocated; her daughter Beverly found a new facility that costs about $10,000 more per month than Harborside. The family’s $710,000 entrance fee was lost, Beverly said. She and other heirs have hired a lawyer and say they hope to recover roughly 30% of the fee. Harborside representatives did not respond to CBS News’ requests for comment.
Joyce and Norman Cooper also lost their entrance fee and were forced to leave Harborside. Because their medical needs diverged — including Norman’s dementia — the couple, married more than 70 years, were separated into two different care facilities. “They were there to be together for the rest of their lives and had to split up. And that really did them in,” Barbara Cooper said. Barbara’s mother died soon after the move; three weeks later her father also died.
Barbara calls the experience a cautionary tale and advises other seniors to investigate how entrance fees are held and protected. “Find out what happens with the money. If it’s not safeguarded, then it’s too risky,” she said.